Tuesday, March 20, 2007

UNFAIR , INEQUITABLE JUDICIAL TECHNICALITIES IN PRACTICE RESULTING IN VIOLATIONS OF COMMONER'S FUNDAMENTAL / HUMAN RIGHTS - AN OPEN APPEAL TO JUSTICE SHRI. K.G.BALAKRISHNAN , HONOURABLE CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA , SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Recently , in the media an interview with the present chief justice of India was reported. In the interview the honourable CJI stated that he is against any compulsory disclosures to be made by judges ie he is against any external supervision of judges performance , as any self respecting judge would not like this. He is for voluntary disclosures by judges themselves. It is true , thinking on the same lines, our constitutional forefathers thought that only people with self respect , personal integrity will come to occupy high constitutional offices in parliament , legislature & judiciary , as at the dawn of independence there were great educationists , statesmen in parliament , judiciary , in the whole of public service . that is the reason they have left out blank in drafting disciplinary proceedings against erring judges , ministers , MLAs , MPs. They have not even dreamt of the present situation, now see the opposite individuals facing murder , rape , extortion charges are in parliament , state legislatures, corruption is rampant in judiciary. These facts have been publicly acknowledged by union cabinet ministers , supreme court judges themselves. This problem has grown out of proportion due to failure of self regulation , transparency by judiciary & parliament.
Even certain technicalities , actions of the judiciary are biased for the rich & mighty. The cases of commoners drag on for years , months without a hearing whereas the special leave petitions which only rich can afford & other cases which the judge thinks urgent comes for hearing at the shortest time & even interim orders are issued. The judiciary in convenient cases initiates suo-motto action based on media reports , considers e-mails , post cards of high profile individuals / NGOs as PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATIONS and takes action. Whereas , when commoners send appeals for justice concerning public good, about violation of fundamental/human rights & obstruction to performance of fundamental duties, those are not even considered.
Honourable CJI is only concerned about the self respect of judges , what about the self respect of common people. When a commoner asks for accountability of judiciary or parliament he is slapped with contempt charges , what about his self respect ? When innocent commoners are arrested without warrants , illegally detained beaten up by police , what happens to the self respect of those individuals ? who bothers about the shame , job losses , broken marriages , fall of community relationships his whole family suffers as a result ? due to corrupt police officers sometimes innocents are put behind the bars , unable to pay the bail amount they suffer in jail for years while the real crook who is rich will be roaming outside on bail. Ofcourse, finally the court may absolve that poorman of charges, but what about his self respect the trauma his whole family faces ? what about poor people who unable to bear police 3rd degree torture confess to crimes they have not committed & suffer punishment - some times even death sentence , what about their self respect ?
Nowadays numerous scandals involving ministers , MLAs , MPs are reported in the media. The government drags it feet for months , sometimes years to give legal sanction for prosecution , thereby indirectly aiding the tainted in manipulation of evidences , records. Finally the tainted are let-off for lack of evidences in courts. In high profile cases , opposition parties raises hullaballo , an enquiry / parliamentary committee is formed to inquire into the issue. The committee takes months to complete it's findings , the government takes months to table the report , months to take action & months to table action taken report. Finally, VVIP is let off the hook , even if found guilty he resigns from the membership of the house.
In the same manner , senior judges facing charges of irregularities / corruption are either asked to resign or not allotted any judicial work. Only in rarest cases impeachment motion is brought about by parliament.
In this manner on quid pro quo basis the functioning style , action time of judiciary & parliament are mutually helpful. Instead of dragging on the cases for years spending lakhs of rupees , the tainted ministers , judges can be subjected to scientific tests like polygraph , brain mapping , etc & the truth can be found out , but not followed why ?
Resignation from office or not allotting any work to tainted constitutional functionary is not complete equitable justice ? what about the legal prosecution for their wrong doings ?
Just see the recent media reports about justice bhalla. See the recent reports in "vijaya karnataka' about whole irregularities in recruitment process by Karnataka public service commission. KPSC selects candidates for quasi-judicial positions like taluk magistrates , tax officers , labour officers , etc. what about UPSC , JUDGES SELECTION COMMITTEE, etc ? when an unfit person pays bribe to get a job , it is to reap more profits afterwards. Naturally, corruption spreads. Just remember "ROOST RESORT SCANDAL" involving selectors- high court judges & the candidates - newly selected women judges.
The commoners do have self respect as VVIPs & in the spirit of equitable justice VVIPs must be treated on par with commoners with respect to enforcement of law. Or else it will go against the letter & spirit of constitution & violative of people's fundamental rights. Ofcourse , there are honest persons in public service – judiciary , parliament . it is an humble appeal with full respects to them to legally prosecute their corrupt colleagues . JAI HIND. VANDE MATARAM.
Your's sincerely,
nagaraj.M.R.